Anne Doyle
, ContributorI write about making the leap from achiever to leader.Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Something is really starting to bug me.

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When fathers (and now increasing numbers of mothers) temporarily leave their jobs for active duty in the Armed Services, they gain respect for “serving our country.” As they should. And when they return, their military experience is a resume enhancer and, often, a ticket to leadership opportunities. There's nothing wrong with that either.

But here’s the problem. When mothers (and slowly increasing numbers of fathers ) temporarily leave their paid jobs for active duty raising our future workers, soldiers and citizens, they lose status because they've "opted out." And when they attempt to return to the paid workforce, their years of experience supervising, training and mentoring often difficult "team members" are considered irrelevant.

Of course defending our borders, protecting our people and supporting our foreign policy positions throughout the world is important. But when did we start believing that military functions are more important to our national security than investing in the health, education and emotional stability of our next generation of Americans?

There is something inherently wrong with that value system in our culture.

Now that women are 51% of the U.S. workforce, it's time to take a fresh look at the value of all of our work experience. It is long past time for mothers – who are the primary foot soldiers and officers on our nation’s parenting front lines -- to stop minimizing the work that we and women throughout the world do every day to defend and serve our countries.